When it came to producing movies chronicling the AIDS pandemic, mainstream Hollywood was as slow to respond as government officials were in dealing with the crisis.
Although what later what became known as AIDS was first reported in The New York Times in 1981, it would be another dozen years—1993 and the release of Philadelphia—before Hollywood finally got around to releasing a mainstream film dealing with the subject matter. And even at that late date the project was considered risky while Tom Hanks, the movie's titular star, was lauded for his "courage" in taking on the leading role of the young, gay lawyer battling AIDS and his homophobic law firm, which had summarily dismissed him.
By that point the television and independent cinema filmmaking industries had long delved into the subject of AIDS. Television producers recognized both the potential for large viewing numbers when considering the pandemic's controversial nature and ease of adaptability within the familiar "disease of the week" TV movie template the industry favored. Indie filmmakers, which included both artists personally impacted by the virus and those whose sympathies and outrage at mainstream indifference to the plague as it decimated the gay community, provided creative fuel for their films which began appearing midway through the '80s. The birth of the new queer cinema movement in 1991 with the release of Poison and The Living End the following year can directly be traced to the anger of the maverick filmmakers responsible for their creation over cultural and political indifference to the AIDS epidemic.
With those factors in mind, television weighed in first in 1985 with An Early Frost, an earnest effort that did not sensationalize its subject and made Aidan Quinn a household name. As the young lawyer diagnosed with AIDS who must reveal both his gay sexuality and HIV diagnosis to his parents ( played with equal finesse by Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara ) , Quinn and the movie won critical kudos and the project was a ratings winner. Buddies, another TV movie from writer-director Arthur Bressan, Jr. ( who later succumbed to the disease ) also aired in 1985 and was surprisingly bold in its approach, though it wasn't nearly as high profile as An Early Frost.
1985 was also the year that AIDS claimed Hollywood's first leading man when Rock Hudson lost his battle with the disease. The actor, who had remained closeted throughout his professional career, came out just days before his death, but it would be five years before the inevitable ( and mostly junky ) TV version of his life story appeared on the little screen ( it had been preceded by an even trashier biopic for pianist/entertainer Liberace in 1988, another casualty of the plague ) .
In 1986 the cable station Showtime broadcast a film adaptation of William M. Hoffman's Tony award winning play As Is. The movie, which centers on a group of gay male friends dealing with AIDS in New York City, starred Jonathan Hadary ( sensational, repeating his Obie-nominated performance ) who returns to care for his lover Robert Carradine when the latter is diagnosed with AIDS. The cast included a warm, supporting turn by Colleen Dewhurst. The relatively low profile of Showtime at the time, however, kept the film from receiving more widespread attention.
As the AIDS crisis deepened in the late '80s and early '90s, fear about transmission reached a peak and several television films profiled the high personal toll that widespread public ignorance and fear visited upon these unfortunate victims. Julie Andrews and Ann Margret battled opposing viewpoints in 1991's Our Sons, which cast Andrews as the enlightened mother of a gay son ( Hugh Grant ) whose partner ( Zeljko Ivanek ) is dying. Andrews determines that she will reunite the homophobic, low-class Margret with her son before it's too late, allowing for plenty of scenery chewing amidst the expected tears.
Ryan White, the middle grade school student from Indiana, a hemophiliac who had contracted the disease through a blood transfusion, was also the subject of a TV movie. After being dismissed from school because of his HIV status and prevented from returning, White sued. His case became a national sensation and White a touchstone for the cause of justice in the face of prejudice about the scourge. His courageous battle was relayed in 1989's The Ryan White Story starring Lukas Haas and Judith Light. 1994's A Place for Annie starring Sissy Spacek, Mary-Louise Parker and Joan Plowright was another television movie that focused on fear and prejudice surrounding the disease ( this about an orphan baby born with HIV ) .
HBO, the cable station noted for daring and innovative programming, broadcast And the Band Played On in 1993, a 2-� hour version of Randy Shilts's bestselling 1987 non-fiction account of the genesis of AIDS and its impact on San Francisco and the rest of urban America. The project, directed by Roger Spottiswode, was considered highly risky due to its subject matter and for its attempt to accurately convey Shilts's wide-ranging, dense book into a single film. But the resulting work, which starred a glittering, high-profile cast that included Richard Gere, Lily Tomlin, Ian McKellan, Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, and Steve Martin, was a critical and ratings success, winning the Emmy award for Best TV movie of the year, among others.
HBO returned to the subject of AIDS with 1997's In the Gloaming, a film directed by actor Christopher Reeve. The movie, in its depiction of the close bond between mother ( Glenn Close ) and son ( Robert Sean Leonard ) as the latter returns home to die, harkened back to similar moments in An Early Frost, albeit this time with the addition of gorgeous cinematography and a haunting music score. Whoopi Goldberg and Bridget Fonda also appeared in the movie, adding extra star power.
By the mid '90s several prominent celebrities had started to become open about their HIV/AIDS status. Olympic gold medalist, diving champion Greg Louganis had told his coming out story and revealed his HIV status in the national bestseller Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story. In 1997 former sitcom star Mario Lopez portrayed him in a highly rated adaptation of the book for cable's USA Network. The movie, in which Michael Murphy played Louganis' tough, adoptive father, handled the athlete's story in a relatively low-key manner, eschewing the usual histrionics associated with the telepicture "tell all." Repeated shots of the hunky Lopez, dressed in a Speedo, helped the actor establish a devoted following in the gay community.
Gia, which starred Angelina Jolie as the lesbian supermodel-turned-junkie Gia Carangi who died at 26 from AIDS complications, had an even larger effect on the career of the young actress. The movie, broadcast on HBO in 1998, brought instant attention to Jolie who went on to win an Oscar and acting superstardom. Gia's bad-girl antics amidst the glamorous high-fashion setting was memorably portrayed by the suitably intense Jolie, whose co-stars included the equally dramatic Faye Dunaway as her modeling mentor and Mercedes Reuhl as her mother. Elizabeth Mitchell played Gia's girlfriend and due to HBO's push-the-envelope, cable status, the love scenes between she and Jolie were very provocative.
In 2003—almost a decade after trying to get a feature film made of his mammoth, two-part theatrical masterpiece HBO spent $60 million—considered a bargain—to bring Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork about the AIDS plague, Angels in America, to the small screen. The project had been originally developed by legendary director Robert Altman for theatrical release, but Altman left when faced with budget constraints that he felt would irreparably mar Kushner's epic-sized work. After Altman's departure, Kushner attempted to condense the two plays ( Millenium Approaches and Perestroika ) that comprise Angels in America but eventually realized that the miniseries format would be the best approach.
The project's long-time producer Cary Brokaw then signed Mike Nichols to direct. Al Pacino had been attached to star as Roy Cohn and Nichols quickly added Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Mary-Louise Parker to the lineup. Only Jeffrey Wright, who had won a Tony for his part in the play, was retained from the original Broadway cast. Three other relative newcomers to the medium—Justin Kirk, Patrick Wilson and Ben Shenkman—were added in high-profile parts. The movie—which basically focuses on two couples in the midst of the AIDS crisis in 1985 and the ensuing political and social change at the height of the Reagan administration—mixes fantasy and reality, fictional and real-life characters, and was dubbed by Kushner as "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes." It was originally telecast in two, three-hour sections in December of 2003.
Angels in America was the most watched cable movie of 2003 and was also critically acclaimed. In 2004 it broke the long-held record by Roots to become the miniseries with the most Emmy awards—11 ( out of 21 nominations ) . At 352 minutes, Angels in America retains its power as both a creative masterpiece and as a moving and insightful commentary on the plague. By the time of its release, medical breakthroughs, in the form of daily drug regimens for those infected, had helped to ease widespread panic about AIDS, but Angels, along with other TV films on the subject, remains an insistent and painful reminder of the dreadful human, financial and political fallout of the pandemic.
Coming soon: Independent movies and Hollywood films about AIDS.
